Tag Archives: Scott Freeman

Attorney General Tom Horne is planning to file a special court action this week to compel cooperation from the three members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission who have refused to submit to his investigation into whether the panel violated state procurement and open meetings laws when it hired a mapping firm in June.

In the high-stakes job to redraw Arizona’s political districts, much has been debated about the idea of “transparency.”

The Independent Redistricting Commission, apparently concerned about the public perception of its decision to hire a mapping firm with historic ties to Democratic causes, recently established a rule intended to allay fears of partisanship driving the mapping process.

But what about the commission itself? Shouldn’t its members be held to the same standard?

Former Attorney General Terry Goddard this weekend accused now AG Tom Horne of taking part in a Republican “intimidation campaign” against the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The announcement was odd, and so was the timing – given that Horne’s investigation has been ongoing for more than a month.

If Republican Attorney General Tom Horne would be willing to meet the Independent Redistricting Commission halfway, a Democrat on the panel said he would be prone to reconsidering his stance that he and his colleagues should resist cooperating with an investigation Horne launched last month.

More than a month after Attorney General Tom Horne announced an investigation into possible open meeting and procurement law violations by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, his attorneys will finally get to conduct their first interview with a commissioner Wednesday morning.

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission could stumble into another partisan divide, but this time it involves whether members will cooperate with Attorney General Tom Horne’s investigation into whether the commission violated open meeting and procurement laws when it hired a mapping consultant in June.

Attorney General Tom Horne has announced his office has opened an investigation into the Independent Redistricting Commission in response to an investigation by Arizona Capitol Times and its sister publication, Yellow Sheet Report, that uncovered possible violations of the state’s open meeting and procurement laws.

Prior to voting to award a lucrative contract to a mapping consultant on June 29, the Independent Redistricting Commission had spent as much time in closed door executive meetings as it had before the public.

And public records held by the commission itself, as well as statements made by commissioners, indicate the IRC may have violated Arizona’s open meeting laws designed to maintain a level of transparency in government affairs – that is, if the state Constitution doesn’t grant the agency unfettered contracting authority.